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[00:16] What on earth are ‘Meta Skills’

[02:03] Examples of meta skills

[04:05] Meta skills for gym owners

[12:51] The importance of fitness

Dan Uyemura: [00:00:00] I've always wanted to learn a language. I just never have applied myself to it, but I can see how that helps me more than just saying like, don't ask that Daniel, you know? 

Nick Reyes: You are now listening to the PushPress podcast, helping gym owners succeed one episode at a time. 

Dan Uyemura: The other day I was listening to podcasts and I heard this concept.

Dan Uyemura: I thought it was dope that I want to talk to you about. It's about, it's about meta skills. You heard of this. So, the concept of metal skills is basically like, there are certain skills in life that are so important, and um, just like, I guess at the intersection of humanity, that these skills trans like, when you take the time to learn or develop the skill set, it actually transcends into everything in life.

Dan Uyemura: And I just thought that was such an interesting topic. Um, to dive into that. I wanted to bring that up with you. 

Nick Reyes: It, you don't hear much thrown around, uh, around meta skills at all. And until, you know, you share the, you know, the, the, some of the overarching themes of this with me, and I hadn't really given it much thought.[00:01:00] 

Nick Reyes: I think it's a good thing for any business owner to noodle on, especially. Uh, so excited to jump in and to maybe, maybe here in a few minutes, dive into what, what are the, the, you know, the top, Five, six, seven meta skills that every business owner should jump into. But I guess maybe generally how, how would we frame them or how would we explain to the audience what a meta skill is?

Nick Reyes: Maybe without giving away too many of them. Cause I know we want to say that for, 

Dan Uyemura: I won't give any of them away, but I'll tell you what, I just, uh, asked chat GPT what, what a meta skill is. Of course. And, uh, since chat GPT knows more than all of us at this point, let's just read that. So a meta skill is a high level ability that when developed, Has a positive impact across many areas of life, beyond its specific application.

Dan Uyemura: Unlike regular skills, these are often confined to particular tasks or domains. Meta skills are foundational and transferable. So I think that's the key to it. When you start to develop these things, it actually transcends across your entire life. 

Nick Reyes: ChatGPT to the freaking rescue. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. We should just do a segment on what shit ChatGPT says, because [00:02:00] that was, uh, 

Nick Reyes: That would  be hilarious.

Dan Uyemura: That was, uh, pretty on point. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah, it was. 

Dan Uyemura: So what are some, like, are there any examples that, um, are not in our, uh, shortlist that you're thinking of? 

Nick Reyes: Oh, ones that are not immediately listed here would be, uh, storytelling. Mm. Would be one. Right? So, Huge one. Because, I mean, humans have told stories since they could scribble on cave walls, Right?

Nick Reyes: And you know, it's like your grandfather tells you stories, right? Like we read bedtime stories. Like dude, storytelling is such a critical part to everything that we do as humans. It's how we convey messages. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. And it's just because as human beings, we're wired to that. So when you develop the skill to store and you understand the framework of storytelling, you can actually get your point across to a wider range of people, which ultimately serves yourself.

Dan Uyemura: If you're trying to, you know, if you have something that you want to get across, you can wrap that in story. One that I think of a lot because I am a Unilingual. Is there such a word as unilingual? What does that mean? It's the opposite of duolingual. Like, I only [00:03:00] know how to speak English. Barely. I can only barely speak English.

Dan Uyemura: Apparently. Anyway, since I can only speak one language, one thing I think about a lot is another language. Like, learning another language lets, it kind of lets you communicate with other people, but it opens up travel, right? It opens up new restaurants, or, you know, like the cultural boundaries start to blend when you learn a new language.

Dan Uyemura: So to me, like, I've always wanted to learn a new language, I just never have applied myself to it. But I can see how that helps me more than just saying, like, Dónde está el baño? You know? That's the hook right there. 

Nick Reyes: So is the skill the ability to learn a new language itself? That's the unlock, right? 

Dan Uyemura: The skill is learning a new language.

Dan Uyemura: Like, oh, I can speak Spanish today. But what is that in a meta way? I can now go to like 28 countries and be able to get around comfortably and not fear, you know, not have anxiety about it. And I can also like, you know, um, connect with my wife's family better. Right. So it's like, it unlocks this much more than just learning the skill [00:04:00] itself.

Nick Reyes: Got it.

Dan Uyemura: All right. Do we want to dive into some? 

Nick Reyes: Absolutely. 

Let's, uh, let's pull up the list here. We've got a list of, uh, Our, our, um, some, some meta skills that we think actually specifically apply to gym owners. Yep. It's our audience, but um, we'll unlock a lot more in everyone's life for anyone who does it.

Dan Uyemura: I'll start it off with one that actually is in your realm, so I'm going to steal from you because I think it is the, uh, the number one unlock that I had in my life is when I actually learned the skills of selling. Right. And, uh, I will speak to this from the other side of the coin because I, you're a professional, you come from, you've grown up as a salesperson, your career.

Dan Uyemura: I grew up hating salespeople. And so selling to me was something I was petrified of doing. But something I realized as a gym owner, I had to do. And so I went to the sales course and I learned that, Hey, it's actually possible to sell in an ethical way that treat your customers with respect and dignity and does not make you the, uh, Salesperson you see on TV and what he actually straight up explained to us in the sales course is like, Hey, if you learn to sell [00:05:00] Your marriage is going to get better. If you learn to sell your friendships are going to get better.

Dan Uyemura: Why? Because part of selling is just being able to like understand what other people need, listen to that and respond to that in a certain way. You know, so that to me, that's like one of the, one of the bigger metals, meta skills that I uncovered early in my career.

Nick Reyes: A hundred percent. I think not only does every gym owner need to do it, of course, but it is one of those things that once you learn to listen, regurgitated in your brain, what you heard, And then speak to that thing in a way that gives value to the person on the other side of the table.

Nick Reyes: It helps you with job interviews. It helps you with, like you said, uh, with your marriage. Of course, sometimes my wife is like, Quit trying to sell me something. doing here, Nicholas. Alright, fine, babe. We'll just do it your way, right? So, but it does help in all those different areas, right? Job interviews, I mean, you name it.

Nick Reyes: It's, it, it makes it to where you never feel as if you are, you know. Behind the curve on any negotiation or anything else, 

Dan Uyemura: you know, there's an interesting thing. As I look through this list here of things that we have, I [00:06:00] realize a lot of them underpin are underpinned by this, what I consider a concept of empathy, right?

Dan Uyemura: So the next one that I have is marketing, right? And the reason marketing to me is a meta skill is because it actually makes me understand. Uh, if you can reflect back on the cat shit episode, but, um, it makes me take myself out of my own shoes and realize like, what do my customers want? What do they see?

Dan Uyemura: What are the pains that they're feeling? And really those are all empathetic things, but in order to take myself out of my own shoes of what I want and put myself in the shoes of what my customers want, that's really the marketing hat of like, how do you speak to customers and meet them where they are and talk to them in language that they need to hear.

Dan Uyemura: And feel safe with. 

Nick Reyes: I think there's something else too. They're around. Respecting attention, understanding how to capture attention, but then also respecting that you have someone's attention and not taking it for granted and not wasting their time. It's the reason why these podcasts episodes are like 15 minutes, right?

Nick Reyes: Instead of like an hour drawn out of some bullshit. 

Dan Uyemura: Yep. Let's get to the point. [00:07:00] 

Nick Reyes: Uh, this next one is the one that, uh, I think I've seen you just grow so significantly on in the last couple of years and that's public speaking. Uh, this one, I actually, I would love to hear your thoughts because you have, you, you did go, I remember we, you and I had a conversation, you were like, I'm going to get really fucking good at public speaking and it's like, I'm just going to get on stages.

Nick Reyes: I'm just going to start talking and probably since then, you've probably been on 30 stages. It seems like, and now all of a sudden. 

Dan Uyemura: You know, I'm not much better, but I'm more confident. 

Nick Reyes: The compliments though, you can say that, but the compliments that people give you that I hear are phenomenal. So has it helped in when we sit in a board meeting?

Dan Uyemura: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So that's why to me, this is absolutely a meta skill because I've personally experienced this, but yeah, like just having the confidence to be able to walk into a room and say, like, if I had to talk to everyone here, I'm not completely out of my element is very empowering. And that [00:08:00] could be a board meeting.

Dan Uyemura: It could be, Your class in the gym and it could be, um, you know, your leadership group or pilot coaches. The bottom line is like to be a leader, you have to be able to convey, you have to be able to form a thought and convey a thought and then get people bought in on a thought. And if you can't do those things, you're, you're not a leader.

Nick Reyes: A hundred percent, 

Dan Uyemura: which takes us right to the next one, right? 

Nick Reyes: To the next one, which is leadership leadership, man, that is one, uh, Beyond thankful for my time in the, in the Marine Corps because it started you as a, they, you know, they thrive on small unit leadership. So you start on a fire team and it's just three other, three other Marines.

Nick Reyes: And it's like, you're really only making sure they get freaking eat. They get to eat, you know, they don't go to jail that they're, that their uniform is squared away. It's nothing overly complex. And then it grows over time. Right. But once you can learn to. Command a room lead lead with empathy. So you're right.

Nick Reyes: You're tight. You said earlier tying it back to empathy, right? All of a sudden, a lot of other doors unlock [00:09:00] and to me it's just similar to public speaking where now all of a sudden you, you're not afraid of like, hey, make sure that all these people, make sure the family gets to the zoo and home safely.

Nick Reyes: It's like, yeah, it's my responsibility as a leader. 

Dan Uyemura: There's something about leadership too where like you can walk in, again, walk into a room, survey the situation and realize like, like a true leader will actually know like, oh, we've got three chefs in this kitchen. Yeah. I don't need to be the leader here or they'll be able to survey the situation and be like, Oh my gosh, everyone's just, this is chaos.

Dan Uyemura: Someone needs to take charge. And because you have that experience as a leader, You can actually make that happen. And, and in both those situations, like the, the group needs exactly that. Yeah. But as a leader, you can, you can, you can tell the rookie leaders will be, they're gonna force or, you know, someone who's, who has less experiences is gonna do whatever they're gonna do, no matter what the rest of people need.

Nick Reyes: Like, they're gonna step in and try to lead even if it, even if a room clearly already has someone that you're driving towards. Yeah. I mean, it 

Dan Uyemura: could be like, there's two chefs in the room and if, and if you're like. a younger leader, you're going to be like, well, let me [00:10:00] be the third chef. But also it could be like, there's, it's just chaos and there's nobody taking charge.

Dan Uyemura: And if you are not comfortable being a leader, you'll be like, well, that's not me. This feels way too chaotic for me to handle. 

Nick Reyes: A hundred percent. Yeah. Uh, next one. Negotiation. Negotiation to me is such a powerful one because you use it every single day. You just don't realize it. It's like sales. You don't realize it.

Nick Reyes: Yep. And so, and I think it's important to, that there's a difference between a negotiation and sales. You know, sales, uh, yes you are looking to close a, Their similarities are you're both looking to close a transaction. One is the dialogue of the back and forth and aligning on a specific outcome where the other one is like the 

Dan Uyemura: committal part.

Dan Uyemura: Like I'm buying into what's happening here. Exactly. Negotiations and then fine print. 

Nick Reyes: Yep. A hundred percent. 

Dan Uyemura: And from my experience, the fine print is where like things can go really wrong, really fast. 

Nick Reyes: Yep. It's the, uh, it's the last part of the, what do they say? It's the, it's the last yard getting over the goal line, right?

Nick Reyes: So. And that's where every deal can go south at. So if you're, [00:11:00] if you're comfortable in that environment, especially face to face or in person, man, it's like the world's your oyster all of a sudden. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. Yep. Yep. And so the sixth one, uh, for the list, I put disarming. What I really mean by that is basically the meta skill of, for lack of better term, fighting.

Dan Uyemura: And I use the word disarming very tactically because a good fighter knows that the best fight is one that you don't take. Yeah, so I saw, I read this. I was thinking, did he mean physically? Yeah, in some ways. I mean, it really is in disarming situations, but here's, here's like my observation are the people who have trained their whole lives to fight.

Dan Uyemura: Know how not to fight because they have the confidence in knowing that if it gets to that point I will finish the job more than likely or i'm trained to finish the job But I don't need it to get to that point It's always the people who don't know how to fight who want to fight You know i'm saying so I think like one of the biggest meta skills is like if you actually have taken the time to uh learn jiu jitsu or do some type of [00:12:00] fighting skill or even like take a It could be like emotional disarming, right?

Dan Uyemura: So it's like i've taken a class to You Um, you know, do you know, like hostage situation negotiation or stuff like that? It's like you actually have the ability to disarm a situation so that you're not getting into the The stuff no one wants to get into, you know what I'm saying? 

Nick Reyes: There was a viral video, I think just last week or two weeks ago, uh, at a football game.

Nick Reyes: And these are two football fans of opposing teams yelling at each other. And there was a green beret who's got the low ground. He later surfaced that he was a freaking green beret, right? And he's staring up at this dude that's bigger than him. But he's, they're jawing back and forth. But he's got a smile on his face and he is as calm as can be.

Nick Reyes: And it, that all the comments around, like, I wouldn't piss that guy off. Like he was the calm one in the room trying to disarm it. Cause to your point, he knew he was going to finish the job if it escalated. Right? 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. So let's go to the, uh, to me, the biggest, biggest. Meta skill one can get fitness, right?

Dan Uyemura: And that's why we're all in this room. Why don't you, [00:13:00] um, give us your thoughts on 

Nick Reyes: that. So to me, fitness is probably the most impact one of the, I mean, they're all amazing, right? But I get so empowering. And I remember there was a member at Ken's athletic club. He actually lives out here in California now.

Nick Reyes: Um, his name is Sean Herwald. And we did a, uh, an exit interview after he had been with the gym for a couple of years. And I asked him, what was the. you know, most impactful thing of your time here. And he said, it's the confidence that I gained from coming here that made me good in my career. It's what got me the job to move out to California, my dream job.

Nick Reyes: And I wouldn't have had it if I wasn't training here every day. And that was a light bulb moment for me of it's not just the body. It's not just the physical. It's you are suddenly empowered to go and conquer the world. 

Dan Uyemura: Empowerment's a big one. Let me turn to chat GPT. Um, so earlier when I asked chat GPT, what meta skills was the number one example was fitness.

Dan Uyemura: So I just asked [00:14:00] a chat GPT right now, uh, to dive into that and tell me more. Here's some reasons, right? Like improve mental health and stress management. This is from chat GPT. This is true. Boosted self discipline, like you were saying, and habit building, right? So when you show up and do hard things that you might not want to do, I've gone to the gym so many days where it's like, it would be easier not to, and I decided to, and it, all it does is just build that skill within yourself to show up when you don't want to.

Dan Uyemura: What's the guy, increased energy and productivity? We've all felt that. You feel better. Um, improve sleep quality. I don't get that one personally, but I think you absolutely 

Nick Reyes: don't 

Dan Uyemura: confidence in self efficacy. That's also what you're talking about. Positive impact on social connection. So again, when you have the confidence, uh, it's almost like the fight skills stuff.

Dan Uyemura: When you have the confidence in knowing, like I show up for myself and do things for myself that I know I need to do. It just, it resounds into so many other aspects of your life that I think then this has got to be one of the biggest medical schools in the world 

Nick Reyes: has to be. And you mentioned earlier.

Nick Reyes: That when, you know, you sit down to a table and you're fit, you have a leg [00:15:00] up in, you know, negotiation. And so I think this is kind of where you can start to cross some of these skills, right? So you show up to speak. I mean, you got broad shoulders, you're a big guy. So like, there's some of this, uh, I'm going to listen to what he's saying.

Nick Reyes: So then it's like fitness, Public speaking you start to stack some of these and you get some really powerful results But fitness is the one that you can just visibly see as someone walks down the street 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, and the crazy thing about fitness honestly and share this with your community gym owners Like if you just show up every day for yourself for an hour to an hour and a half for a year You will have changed your life.

Dan Uyemura: Like it's almost a guarantee. There's no question marks about this. It's just, are you willing to just show up and put in work over a prolonged period of time to get a guaranteed result? How many things in life are guaranteed that people just that, you know, like it is one of the few things. So it absolutely blows my mind that people, if you ask everyone on the street, would you like to be fitter?

Dan Uyemura: [00:16:00] They almost say, you know, either they're lying to you with this, you know, They're, you know, or they're lying to themselves and they say, no, or the answer is yes. Like that is, these are just inevitabilities. 

Nick Reyes: Yep. A hundred percent. And you know what? On that note, I think you could probably say the same thing about most of these meta skills.

Nick Reyes: I think that just goes to maybe to show you exactly how innate to they are to being a human being. 

Dan Uyemura: So I would actually, I would argue that and saying like most people would say, I don't want to be a better salesperson. Cause they, you know what I mean? They don't, they don't understand marketing. They would public speaking, you know what I mean?

Dan Uyemura: It's like, but everyone wakes up and feels like that. Crick in my neck, the ache in my back, I can't squat. I'm not, you know, like I can't go up the stairs. Like everyone feels that internally every day. And especially the more unfit, like the worst of a public speaker. You are the, you're not going to know it.

Nick Reyes: True. 

Dan Uyemura: The more unfit you are, you know that it shows up in your every moment of your own consciousness. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah. Yeah. Maybe there's a negative connotation. Like, I don't necessarily want to be a good public speaker, but I also don't want to be scared of getting on stage. That's probably more of the thought that someone would have.

Nick Reyes: [00:17:00] Someone wants to be fit, you know, but someone doesn't want to be bad at public speaking. 

Dan Uyemura: Everything goes back to the negative. Right. And it's like. Do I not want to be embarrassed in, you know, in front of a stage of people? Of course I don't, but I don't, it's not in my life. Yeah. I don't have to deal with it because I will never put myself in that situation.

Dan Uyemura: But you have to deal with your body. You have to deal with, Oh my God, the elevator is broken. Escalator is broken. I've got to walk up these flight of stairs and, or I'm about to miss a flight and I've got to run to the next terminal. Like everyone deals with that. And, and, you know, you can't escape your own brain on that one.

Nick Reyes: 100%. 

Dan Uyemura: Yep. So let's, let's recap on that. Right? So meta skills, super important. Why? Because these are the things that let you develop one plus one equals three superpowers. And if you've spent any time with me, you know, that's like, that's what I'm looking for. Right? Like if I'm going to invest my time in something, I want to get returns like Like exponential scale of return of what I'm doing because time is so finite and, um, you know, we're, we're, we're living in this world where you wake up in the morning and you only everyone has the same 24 hours.

Dan Uyemura: So it's like, why does an Elon Musk or [00:18:00] Mark Zuckerberg or whatever? Jeff Bezos or whoever it is. How do they get so far at such a young age? It's because they're figuring out how to stack their time and do these one plus one equals three things, 

[Meta skills] are the one plus one equal three things… they give you those exponential results.

Nick Reyes: right? Absolutely. Yeah. So if we have limited time and you can only put it into.

Nick Reyes: Everyone has the same 24 hours, right? So what are you going to focus on? What are you going to learn? What are you going to challenge yourself with? That's going to give you those exponential results. And these are the underlying skills. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. I mean, if you're going to, if you're going to spend time on things, spend the time on things that are going to spill over into your personal life, in your professional life, into your business with your children, right?

Dan Uyemura: We didn't even mention this, but like fitness. makes your life with your children better. 

Nick Reyes: Absolutely. 

Dan Uyemura: That's probably one of the most important things. And that wasn't even talked about here. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah. Right. Yeah. 

Dan Uyemura: So, um, I guess for you guys, like reflect on yourselves, like what is the metal skill? If you had to, if you had to look within yourself, what is the one meta skill that you think you should be working on Right now to make yourself a better person.

Dan Uyemura: And what is the meta skill that your community can be working on to [00:19:00] 

Nick Reyes: email us? A podcast at pushpress. com. We want to hear from you guys. 

Dan Uyemura: All right. Let us know. See you guys. Thanks for listening to another episode of the push press podcast, where we help gym owners, entrepreneurs and fitness enthusiasts thrive with actionable insights, inspiring stories and strategies for growth.

Nick Reyes: Don't forget to follow the show to stay updated on new episodes. And if you're ready for more, join our free Facebook community for gym owners, check the show notes for the link, and we'll see you next time. Keep raising the bar for your business and community.